Virtual medication-assisted treatment (MAT) provider PursueCare is branching out into hybrid care as it has launched outpatient services in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Middletown, Connecticut-based PursueCare is rolling out the outpatient services along with virtual care at the locations. The company – which to date has raised $12.8 million – has begun offering outpatient assistance at a full-service clinic in Allentown, Pennsylvania and has plans to soon open a second physical location in the Philadelphia suburb of Voorhees, New Jersey. For patients struggling with technological access, both locations will provide a mobile device to conduct virtual visits.
The Allentown location has obtained a program license from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, which includes the MAT drug buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD). The clinic is adjacent to 17th Street Hospital, which is operated by Allentown-based Lehigh Valley Health Network.
17th Street Hospital operates inpatient and emergency departments in the building, which will be connected to PursueCare’s clinic via a skybridge. PursueCare is currently working to collaborate with allied mental health programs at Lehigh Valley.
PursueCare cited the need for expanded SUD treatment services in opening the new locations. SUD overdose death rates are on track to top 104,000 according to the latest provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many of the SUD deaths have been attributed to synthetic drugs such as the opioid fentanyl.
“The continuum of care between the ‘front doors’ for people with substance use disorder and the effective outpatient care they need is broken,” PursueCare CEO Nick Mercandente said in a press release issued by the company. “We are working to fix this.”
Founded in 2019, PursueCare provides 24/7 access for users who are able to receive assistance in private settings and on a same-day referral basis.
PursueCare’s platform also provides treatment services for alcohol and tobacco recovery in addition to assistance for mental issues like depression. The company serves patients across 12 states and accepts a variety of major health insurance plans, Medicaid, Medicare and managed care plans that cover approximately 38 million people.
Along with its new connection to 17th Street Hospital, PursueCare has also formed a linkage collaboration with Valley Health Partners, which is Lehigh Valley’s community health center chain.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing addiction and overdose epidemic,” Valley Health Partners CEO Veronica Gonzalez said in the press release. “The need for both substance use disorder and mental health resources in our community continues to rise. We are proudly partnering with organizations, including PursueCare, to remove barriers, meet patients where they are, and build stronger and healthier communities.”
PursueCare plans to expand its hybrid model later this year and is eyeing near-term plans to establish virtual care and health system collaborations in other states, which at minimum currently includes Delaware, Kansas Maryland and New York.
Companies featured in this article:
Lehigh Valley Health Network, PursueCare, Valley Health Partners
